§ Mrs. LaitTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which categories of civil servants will not be offered stakeholder pensions; for what reasons; and how many people will be affected. [160124]
§ Marjorie MowlamI have been asked to reply.
A designated stakeholder arrangement will be introduced, under the access requirements of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, for those civil servants
324W
KPI Target Actual Category A prisoner escapes 0 0 Total escapes, as a percentage of the average prison population 0.05 per cent. 0.03 per cent. Contractor escapes, as a ratio per 20,000 prisoners handled 1:20,000 1:21,649 Proven adjudications of assault, as a percentage of the average prisoner population 9 per cent. 9.9 per cent. not eligible for membership of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. Access will therefore be mainly provided for some 12,000 casual employees.
Additionally, access to the designated stakeholder arrangement will be available to those members of the PCSPS, earning below £30,000, who wish to use this route as an alternative or supplement to the scheme's additional voluntary contribution arrangements.
Work is also being taken forward on a new pension scheme for the civil service. This will provide new entrants with a choice between improved defined benefit arrangements and a new defined contribution plan. The defined contribution plan will be delivered through stakeholder pension products. Existing members of the PCSPS will be given the choice of remaining with the current benefit structure or of paying the higher employee contributions associated with the new defined benefit arrangement. The intention is to launch the new pension scheme from 1 October 2002.